For a West Hempstead boys soccer team that struggled to score goals a year ago, the introduction of Messi to the attack has been massive.
Yohann Messi Tataille, to be exact.
The senior arrived from Boston in late August, and his impact has been immediate. In four matches, Messi Tataille has already scored five of the Rams’ 12, two more goals than West Hempstead scored all of last season.
Like the Argentine legend, Messi Tataille is a threat in multiple ways.
“He’s playing midfield and forward, but he’s relentless,” West Hempstead coach Chris Van Kovics said. “He just goes to the goal as much as he possibly can, and having him put five up in the first part of the season, it's great. But is he going to get triple-man marked? Yeah, probably, so he’s going to become a playmaker now.”
And there are multiple options for Messi Tataille as a playmaker, including juniors Cameron Leslie, Derlens Fontas Joseph (two goals, one assist), and Emmanuel Suarez, as well as senior Josiah Verdi, who has two goals and an assist.
“We’re trying to figure out who’s going to play where, what players are going to play with each other,” Van Kovics said. “We’re fortunate that we have a bunch of players who can play multiple positions.”
While the abundance of scoring has been a welcome surprise, Van Kovics said any success his team has this year begins with junior goalkeeper Bryan Guzman.
“He’s very talented. He’s got great size, very good knowledge of the game, he runs the back for us, he directs traffic out there, he's fearless in the box,” Van Kovics said. “He was outstanding last year, and he’s outstanding this year, so we’re hoping that he’s going to run the back for us as much as possible.”’
The defense is virtually brand new this season, but there’s plenty of depth there as well, with senior Wilder Castro, juniors Alan Escamilla, Alexis Fernandez and Cristian Bonilla Pena as well as sophomore Jared Suruy Diaz.
“It’s going to be fun and interesting to see how we can put these guys together and put the best defense on the field,” Van Kovics said.
After opening the season with non-league defeats to Valley Stream North and Valley Stream South, West Hempstead’s first win of the season was a wild one — a 7-5 defeat of Wheatley.
Messi Tataille scored four of his five goals in that game, which saw both teams combine for nine goals after halftime.
“We got some calls going our way, and we took the momentum from scoring early, and we kept that energy,” Van Kovics said. “We hit a post, we hit a crossbar, so we could have had a few more. But you have to take advantage of creating as many opportunities on offense as you can. We actually took advantage of it, and we scored seven goals.”
A 2-1 win over Evergreen Charter followed, with Messi Tataille and Verdi scoring the goals. The Rams hope to carry some momentum into a big three-game stretch, which includes a road game against Oyster Bay and home contests against Cold Spring Harbor and Carle Place.
